Insurance rise if 3rd party doesn't claim

[Speed Badger]

Hi all, little bit of an odd one. My other half's car was scraped while parked in a car park the other day. Very kindly and unusually, the person left an apology, their details, reg and phone number on her windcreen.

She contacted him to say how did he want to go about it and he said as its his first year of driving he would rather we get a quote for the damage and if its reasonable he will pay, to avoid a huge insurance price hike.

However, he also notified his insurance company (rightly) of the incident. We received a call today, which we missed & voicemail from his insurer saying he's admitted liability and they will pay for all repairs / hire car etc.

Contacted him after this and he said he wanted to let them know in case we want to go through insurance, but would prefer to settle cash.

My other half feels sorry for him and wants to save him from a big insurance rise, as he's been very conscientious and apologetic.

Question is, now he has notified his insurance company of a fault accident, will he be stung at his renewal regardless of whether we settle cash or go though insurance?

[kiethton]

Yep he'll be bum-fked now he's let them know.....

Might as well go the easiest way for yourselves as it'll make no difference now

[IanJ9375]

He's notified them, I believe that it's toast for him already claim or not going forward

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Speed Badger said:

Question is, now he has notified his insurance company of a fault accident, will he be stung at his renewal regardless of whether we settle cash or go though insurance?

We don't know. If he pays himself, it'll be classed as a non fault accident. Because in insurance terms, any claim that ends up costing your insurer nothing is non fault. The circumstances aren't important. So his no claims bonus will be unaffected. Some insurers charge extra for a non fault claim, and some don't. If his don't, it won't cost him any extra.

[BertBert]

I guess in this situation, there is a risk. The other driver says he will pay and sees the quote, gets cold feet and procrastinates. Then you have to work out how long you wait before going to his insurance and taking up their offer.

So if you want to accept his offer, you should get on to it pronto. Get the quote, see if he still wants to pay it and give him a short time (perhaps a couple of days) to pay it. And just be clear that you'll take his money if he wants to pay it otherwise you'll happily deal with his ins co.

Bert

[Speed Badger]

Cheers for the replies, I suppose it looks likely his insurance will go up. Problem is my other half kinda doesn't want to royally mess him up with a fault claim, however I reckon the quote is going to be high (car is a Golf GTi edition 30) and then we have to mess about with dealing in a non official capacity.

Ill speak to her about it, probably best bet is to get quotes first before contacting his insurer.

[BertBert]

Does the model of car make that much difference to a quote to get a scrape fixed? How much do you think is the magnitude? £100, £500, £1000, £5,000? I'd warm him up to what you think it might be as soon as poss. See how he reacts. Lots of people want to settle outside insurance, but pretty quickly decide they don't want to shell out the cash now when they see the amount written down!
Bert

[Speed Badger]

I only mention the model as the Edition 30 has got a model specific design & front splitter over the bog standard golf which is damaged.

But just to update, my other half has decided she's going through his insurance anyway, she can't be bothered with the hassle of getting quotes, relying on someone to come up with the readies etc. Their insurer say they will collect her car and give her a hire car while hers is fixed. Fair enough. They guy is fair enough with it too. Very nice chap.